Author: Kent

I've been happily teaching high school science for over 13 years. This website serves as a way for me to reflect on my practice, give back to the science educators' community, help other science teachers who may need a place to start, and build a strong community of science learners and educators.
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#40 – Should I use Science Interactive Notebooks? (hint: do you need the latest iPhone?)

Should you start using interactive notebooks in your class? In theory, interactive notebooks are supposed to welcome creative thinking into the classroom and accommodate the multiple ways of learning can be observed in our classrooms. They’re supposed to help students organize their notes and assignments as well as give students the opportunity to express their own ideas and processes for topics covered in class. But, what is it like in reality? Do interactive notebooks live up to their hype? Should you start using them in your classroom?

 

In reality, using interactive notebooks is a lot of work. Yes, it sounds simple (just have students write notes, activities, and reflections all in one place, right? Er…not quite.). But, interactive notebooks need to be more than just a glorified way of helping students stay organized. Done correctly, yes, interactive notebooks do have the potential to make learning engaging and fun. However, That’s not as easy as it seems. I tried using interactive notebooks this past year in my Science 10 classes, and I found it difficult to maintain. Below are some pros and cons of what I learned from using interactive notebooks (and some pointers for what I would do for next time). A cheat sheet is available for download at the end of this post.

 

Interactive Notebooks Pros

Students do take ownership

Students like having their own notebook. For example, whenever I collect notebooks for marking, students always seem to ask for them right back (way before I’m ready to give them back). Perhaps, it is because students need a place to write down their ideas and they prefer their notebook. Perhaps, they like all the work that has gone into personalizing their notebooks. Perhaps, students like to have a record of all the learning that took place over the year. Or, maybe it’s all of it. Whatever the reason, students feel connected and take ownership of their notebooks. And, as a result, students take ownership of their learning too.

 

Keeps things organized

No longer do students shuffle through a binder in search of their assignment or notes from last class or last month. Everything is easier to find when using interactive notebooks because that’s where everything is supposed to be written down. Also, within their notebooks, students learn to organize their items – separating notes, labs, journal entries, and assignments. It’s certainly a life skill that students need to learn and is done through the use of INBs.

 

Provides a structure for students and teachers

One simple way of organizing an interactive notebook is having students write notes on the one side of each page and assignments, reflections, labs, etc. on the other side. Inherent in this structure is that there are parts of learning that are student driven and parts that are teacher driven. For example, students need to record class notes in their INBs – notes that come from the teacher. However, students also need to record personal reflections as well as lab activities and assignments in their interactive notebooks – items that come from themselves. This structure is a good reminder to teachers using interactive notebooks that lessons need to be multimodal in order to best reach all learners. If teachers find that students are writing too much on one side of the page, it’s time to change things up and not just stand-and-deliver for a majority of the class.

 

Filters out less essential parts of a lesson

There was a time where I gave copious notes or handouts upon handouts to students. However, with INBs, I need to be more thoughtful with what I want students to write down. Students can’t possibly write notes for an entire hour. Nor can students staple in handout after handout into their notebooks. When using INBs, teachers need to minimize what the big ideas they want students to focus on. And, I think that’s great.

 

Interactive Notebook Cons

It shifts your teaching practice

An interactive notebook is supposed to show student process, creativity, reflection, and learning in multimodal ways. Students fill their pages with organizers, labs, assignments, notes, written works, foldables, and probably many other things too in order to show their learning. And, if you haven’t been doing some of this stuff – if you’ve only been giving out handouts and assigning questions from the textbook for you to check for completion next day, then interactive notebooks represents a major shift in how you teach.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with giving out handouts and assigning questions from the textbook. But, using interactive notebooks will mean going beyond just writing answers and notes into the notebook. Using interactive notebooks means finding new and better ways to reach and teach all students – and it will require a shift in how you approach your teaching practice (and a lot of time to adjust too).

 

Finding good activities for students to do

What are good activities for students to do for an interactive notebook? The short answer is, activities that help students learn better. And, in terms of interactive notebooks, activities that allow students to use and demonstrate their science knowledge creatively and reflectively. One problem with interactive notebooks is the need to find a variety of activities that do just that. Unfortunately, that is no easy task. We need to find activities that are meaningful and not just busy work. Activities that stretch students’ minds instead of just having them check off boxes. Again, teachers may end up using lots of time exploring this aspect – time that is not always freely available.

 

Finding a fair way to assess notebooks

What does student work in an interactive notebook tell us? How can teachers assess this work and connect it to learning outcomes? Should we be assessing notebooks differently than common assignments? To get the most out of interactive notebooks, we do need to mark them differently than our previous assignments. If not, we run the risk of just doing what we’ve always done – but in a notebook instead of binder. In other words, if creativity, process, and critical thinking is what we are hoping to foster through the use of interactive notebooks, then that is what we need to assess. Again, finding a fair way to assess this in notebooks takes time to develop or, at the very least, to learn. Rubrics and student assessment still require the development of or modification to evaluation criteria. How do we mark individual assignments that we are now trying out because of INBs? How do we assess the quality of the notebook as a whole, and how does that tie to current curricular standards? These are just a few questions that we need to address before or while working with INBS.

 

Wrap Up: Should you use interactive notebooks?

Using interactive notebooks is sort of like upgrading to the newest iPhone. If you have no smartphone (or an old smartphone with no features whatsoever) and need one that offers some current features, then yes, upgrade to the iPhone. Also, if just want to get the latest and greatest, then yes, upgrade to the iPhone. But, if the latest iPhone only offers incremental changes to your existing phone, then it may not be worth it. Save your money (and time).

 

Similarly, if you’re a new teacher looking for an interesting instructional model to learn and follow, then, yes, give interactive notebooks a try. The organizational structure provides an excellent outline to teachers wondering how to reach students in different ways. Or, if you’ve already been teaching for some time but want to try something new that does offer some “new features” in approaching student work and learning (and you have the time to invest in it), then yes, give interactive notebooks a try. But, if you’ve already been teaching and have already developed a system that meets the needs of your learners in a variety of ways, then using interactive notebooks may not be necessary. A better use of your time may be to modify existing assignments instead of starting a whole new structure.

 

Click on the link below to download our handout (a quick start list of links to get started). Please feel free to share our resources with your colleagues.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 40 – Science INBs Quick Start Links

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

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#39 – Bottled Water is toxic! (and other ways to make hazardous household product labels fun to learn)

How do you make learning hazardous household product symbols & categories fun? Make it relevant and interesting, of course. But, how do we do that? How do we make hazardous household product symbols relevant and interesting? Some may argue that these symbols are already relevant because they are there to keep us safe. That may be true. But, in order to make concepts really stick, it’s best to make it interesting and relevant. So, how do we do that?

 

Our answer: have students apply hazardous household product symbols & categories to common items that may not be labeled toxic. We call it our Everyday Hazards Activity. Objects like drinking water, Mac and cheese, and silly string all have a toxic component to them. Students not only get practice learning the different hazard categories and warning labels. Students also learn more about what makes their object hazardous in the first place. And, with tonnes of options out there with regards to what students can study, this short assignment has the freedom, choice and relevance to make it fun. Handouts (our images and samples) are available at the end of the post.

 

Hazardous Household Product Labels Review

In general, there are 4 hazardous household product categories (explosive, toxic, flammable, and corrosive) and 3 labels of intensity (caution, warning, and danger). In some countries (Canada, for example), companies also use hazardous household product symbols to label any hazardous products as well as a border to denote whether the danger is with regards to the container or contents. Below is a quick summary of the categories, symbols, borders, and labels.

For the purposes of our Everyday Hazards activity, we suggest students use a combination of symbols, labels, and borders even if your country doesn’t support its use. The use of all 3 provides much more information regarding the product. And, it can also be a benefit if your students ever travel to Canada!

 

Example: Drinking Water

Drinking water seems like a very safe product. But, did you know drinking too much water at one time can cause serious injury or death? The condition is known as water intoxication. In one case in 2007, a 28 year old woman who participated in a radio contest died when she drank roughly 7 litres of water in over 3 hours. Drinking too much water for children under 1 year old can also be dangerous.

 

Tips on our Everyday Hazards Activity

  • look to the news to see if any typically nontoxic substances have reportedly made injured anyone.
  • some products (like Mac and Cheese) might not be labeled as toxic but contain specific ingredients that may be toxic. Students can research those ingredients.
  • some products (like drinking water) might not be labeled as toxic but may have a threshold at which it becomes toxic. Students can research the threshold.
  • if a product (like silly string) already has a hazardous label on it, see if students can find another hazard that has not been labeled.

Wrap Up

Learning about hazardous household product symbols and categories can be boring. And, that’s not what we want as educators. We want students who are engaged and interested in their material. And, we want students to have fun. By having students apply hazard symbols to everyday objects, students get to research what conditions may cause something to be hazardous. And, they learn more about the hazard labels too. Click on the link below to download our handouts. Please share this resource with your colleagues too!

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 39 – Hazard Symbols

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

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#38 – Using Bike-to-Work for Data Analysis practice (note: more than just bar graphs included)

Are you constantly looking for exercises to practice science skills like graph and data analysis and CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning)? For me, it’s not that I can’t find science skills practice exercises – it’s that I can’t find relevant ones. Ones that my students can connect with. Ones that are fun to do. That’s why I produce my own science exercises – ones that try to connect science with current events and, now, national holidays too. And, for Bike-to-work week, which is coming up (depending on your country or state/province), I produced such a CER practice activity. Handouts (in the form of data sheets with colourful graphs based on recent Census data) is available for download at the end.

 

Using Bike-to-Work to practice Science Skills

Why produce a Bike-to-work activity to practice CER and other science skills? For one thing, most students know how to ride a bike. And, a lot of students ride bikes to where they need to go (bike, school, the mall, etc.) too. But, most importantly, everyone knows what a bike is and everyone can form an opinion about it too. The point of this activity is for students to come up with their own personal beliefs or claims about cycling to work. After, we have students analyse real data to see if it the results support their initial claims or whether they have to modify them.

 

Starting Bike-To-Work to start a class

The following is a quick outline of the steps I would probably do to use Bike-to-Work as science skills practice. I predict the activity would last roughly 15 to 20 minutes.

 

STEP 1:

[< 5 minutes]Tell students that it is Bike-to-Work day (or week). And, ask students how they get to school. Does anyone bike to school? Does anyone have a parent who bikes to work consistently?

STEP 2:

[~ 5 minutes] Next, tell students you have some census data regarding bike-to-work. Then, ask students to come up with some claims (use the word “facts” if it’s easier) they believe will be supported in the census data. If your students are stuck on what to write, ask them to answer the following:

  • Which sex (male or female) tends to bike-to-work? If so, which sex tends to bike-to-work more? Why?
  • Is biking to work age-dependent? If so, which age range (15-19, 20-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, or 55-64) tends to bike-to-work more frequently? Why?
  • Do average commute times differ between age groups? If so, what’s the trend? For example, how is bike-to-work times dependent on age? Why?
  • Do average commute distances differ between age groups? If so, what’s the trend? For example, how is bike-to-work distances dependent on age? Why?

STEP 3:

[5 – 8 minutes] After, have students look at the census data on the data sheet. Ask students, does the data support any of the claims you made? If so, which claim and which piece of evidence from the census data supports it? On the other hand, which of your original claims were wrong? What does the census data say instead? And, why do you think the reason behind the findings is?

For example…

Sample Graph based on Bike-to-Work data

STEP 4:

[3-5 minutes] Have students share their claims.

 

Times are approximations. And, in my classes, I would run this at the beginning of class as a bellringer or warm up activity.

 

Wrap Up

Finding interesting and relevant science exercises and graphs is always going to be challenging. Part of the challenge is finding something students find relevant. And, the other part of the challenge is finding nice graphs that tell a story. Hence, in this activity, I draw my data from census data. So much of the census data is not covered by the news. Yet, much of the data can be used to tell a story, such as the characteristics of a typical person who bikes to work. If you would like a copy of the data package, please click on the link below.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 38 – A Story of Bike to Work

Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!

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#37 – How we use case studies to add scientific thinking into multiple choice tests (and how you can too)

Can teachers use multiple choice to test critical and scientific thinking in the new science curriculum? The short answer is, yes, teachers can use multiple choice to test critical and scientific thinking in the new science curriculum. However, this requires some modifications to how teachers write their multiple choice questions.

 

In our previous post, we wrote how we can use more critical thinking skills in multiple choice questions by changing how we write the answers and prompts for our questions. Unfortunately, this has its limits. That is, if teachers continue to ask the same old multiple choice questions that rely on recall and memorization, then simply changing the answer choices isn’t going to make a big difference. What teachers need is to start asking better multiple choice questions. Therefore, what are examples of good multiple choice questions we can ask that require critical and scientific thinking?

 

We suggest using more case studies in multiple choice tests. Case studies provide students with real data and contexts to apply their knowledge. Thus, they are great opportunity to test critical thinking. For example, questions for our REAL Science Challenge Contests are always based on case studies. And, students find them challenging because students aren’t used to questions that require them to apply their knowledge in a given situation.  Unfortunately, case studies are not always easy to find or readily available. Thus, teachers need to create their own. In this post, we aim to help teachers create their own case studies for multiple choice exams. We present 3 types of case studies teachers can use and the types of questions that teachers can use for each type. A case studies outline is available for download at the end of this post.

 

Easy Case Studies for the scientific thinking

Want to make multiple choice test questions that use case studies to engage critical and scientific thinking? We suggest writing case studies that focus on one of three themes: (1) experimental design analysis, (2) experimental results analysis, and (3) multiple hypotheses analysis. We outline the three case study themes below.

 

1. Experimental Design Analysis

In these case studies, students are responsible for analyzing how an experiment is setup and how changes to the experimental setup can change the results. Students are typically given:

 

  • Some background information regarding what the experiment is about.
  • The experimental procedure, which includes the independent and dependent variables as well as some important controlled variables.
  • Two or three different variations to the same experiment.
  • Results in the form of tables or graphs for all variations to the experiment.

 

Questions for experimental design analysis case studies include:

  • Identifying independent, dependent, and controlled variables.
  • Predicting what can potentially occur if there are changes to any variables.
  • Identifying or developing testable hypotheses
  • Predicting hypothetical conditions that may provide similar experimental results
  • Predicting future results under certain conditions.

 

Sample Case Study: Passage 1 in REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4 (available for download at the end of the post).

 

2. Experimental Results Analysis

In these case studies, students are responsible for analyzing experimental results and applying such results in other scenarios. Students are typically given:

 

  • Some background information regarding what the experiment is about.
  • Multiple graphs and tables showing different relationships between variables in the experiment.

 

Questions for experimental results analysis case studies may include:

  • Interpolation and extrapolation of lab results
  • Determining the conditions that produce a given or range of results.
  • Identifying conditions that may produce a given results
  • Drawing claims or conclusions from experimental results.

 

Sample Case Study: Passages 2 and 4 in REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4 (available for download at the end of the post).

 

3. Multiple Hypotheses Analysis

In these case studies, students are responsible for comparing and contrasting the many hypotheses that may exist that explain the same scientific phenomenon. Students are typically given:

 

  • A scientific phenomenon where there may be multiple hypotheses that explain the phenomenon.
  • Details regarding two or three of the most popular hypotheses.

 

Questions for multiple hypotheses analysis case studies may include:

  • Determining which hypothesis is supported or refuted if given new evidence.
  • Predicting future experimental results if one of the hypotheses was deemed correct.

 

Sample Case Study: Passages 3 in REAL Science Challenge Vol 2 Contest 4 (available for download at the end of the post).

 

Wrap Up

If teachers want students to apply their critical and scientific thinking skills on a test, case studies are a great resource. And, case studies work for multiple choice too (so long as the answers options are written well too – refer to post #36 for details). Unfortunately, case studies take time to create from scratch. Hopefully, by following the suggestions above, the learning curve for writing good case studies will not be as great. Of course, there is also the question of where to find good sources of information for case studies, which we will leave for a future post. Join our newsletter if you want to stay up to date with our posts or if you want to know when our follow up post to this resource will happen. And, click the link below to download the handouts (case studies outline and sample passages) for this resource. Lastly, leave a comment below or share our post with your friends or colleagues.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 37 – Case Studies Outline

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#36 – How we make Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Tests for the new curriculum (hint: focus on answers)

Does the development of new science curriculum like the Next Generation Science Standards mean multiple choice questions are no longer acceptable? Does it mean that short answer or essay/written responses are the only responses that assess critical thinking? The short answer is no. Written responses are not the only way to assess critical thinking. Multiple choice can assess critical thinking too. And, I believe multiple choice can still be a part of your NGSS science test – by writing critical thinking multiple choice tests. So, what do you need to do to have multiple choice tests align with the skills that new curriculum is trying to stress?

 

One change teachers can make is by changing the types of multiple choice answers in our tests. A common argument against multiple choice is that one can get to the answer by eliminating obviously wrong options.  Thus, as detractors will argue, a multiple choice test is no longer a test on knowledge but instead an exercise in test writing. I agree with this argument. A multiple choice test should not be a test about testing but rather a test about content knowledge and understanding. To integrate multiple choice into the current curriculum, we need to make students think about each option in a question by writing better responses. We outline a few strategies below to help write better multiple choice responses that promote more critical thinking. Handouts – which will include a sample passage and critical thinking multiple choice examples – are available for download at the end of this post.

 

Multiple Choice is Critical Thinking

Here’s the big idea: answering good multiple choice question is critical thinking. Why?  Because, for a student to read each multiple choice answer to assess whether one option is THE answer among all the options requires critical thinking. However, this is the ideal. Unfortunately, a lot of multiple choice answers are written so that students rely merely on recall or never require critical thinking at all.

 

This problem is not impossible to solve. But, it takes time and practice. Personally, I’ve written multiple choice questions for all our REAL Science Challenge contests – and I am only starting to be comfortable writing good multiple choice questions that require students to think critically. Below are some of the strategies I’ve researched and adopted in writing the multiple choice options to our problems. I hope you find them useful too.

 

7 Tips to writing Critical Thinking Multiple Choice 

 

Strategy 1: Answers must all sound plausible.

If each option sounds plausible, then students will take time to think about and distinguish the differences between each option.  Obviously phony answers may be fun to include as a multiple choice option, but those options can also be easily eliminated (without thinking critically) as not the answer.

 

Strategy 2: Have more than 1 right answer.

This strategy is used on Advanced Placement (AP) exams. And, on REAL Science Challenge contest questions, questions with more than 1 correct multiple choice answer are extremely challenging for students. This is no surprise. Most students look for 1 correct answer and then stop. But what if there were more than 1 answer? Then, students would need to check all options to see if any other option would also correctly answer the multiple choice question.

 

Strategy 3: Instead of restating the textbook, provide alternate examples.

By providing the right option as an exact copy of what’s stated in the textbook, students can identify the answer strictly by recall. To challenge the mind a little more, provide options that are new or analogous examples. This way, students need to at least analyze to see if the new examples fit with what was stated in the textbook.

 

Strategy 4: Have answers that include a justification

Students can choose what appears to be a correct answer. But, can they then justify their answer?  By adding justifications, students will need to choose the correct response and understand why the option is correct too.

 

Strategy 5: “All of the above” or “None of the above” cannot be an answer

Similar to the problem with including fun and phony multiple choice options, both “All of the above” and “None of the above” can easily be eliminated without using critical thinking. For example, so long as one of the options is not correct, this automatically eliminates “All of the above”.

 

Strategy 6: Answers should not have words like “never” or “always”.

As the old mantra goes, “never say never”. Words like “always” and “never” represent extremes, which are clues for students to eliminate the multiple choice option.

 

Strategy 7: Keep the lengths of each multiple choice answer the same.

Unfortunately, students are able to pick the right answer (or eliminate wrong ones) simply because they are overly wordy. Thus, this becomes an exercise in test writing instead of knowledge assessment. By keeping the length of all answers the same, we close this loophole.

 

Wrap Up

Multiple choice questions get a bad wrap from new curriculum for not being able to assess critical thinking. This is not without reason: lots of multiple choice questions rely on simple recall or knowing some test writing strategies. This is unfortunate because multiple choice questions can assess a greater breadth of content than written response. And, done correctly, multiple choice can assess critical thinking skills too. Perhaps, with a few improvements, critical thinking multiple choice questions can help return multiple choice tests to being a good assessment option. Click the link below to download the handouts to this post. Our handouts include a quick checklist of the strategies above as well as a sample passage and multiple choice examples. Please help us share our resource and website with your peers too!

 

Until next time, keep it REAL!

 

Resources

Handout(s): 36 – Critical Thinking Multiple Choice Handouts

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#35 – A 2-Step Approach to Hypothesis Writing

How do you teach students to write a good scientific hypothesis? Many teachers use “If, then” statements to teach this important science skill. But, at the end of the day, do they really know how to write or identify a good scientific hypothesis? According to results from a recent REAL Science Challenge contest, many students don’t. Roughly x% of participants struggle to identify the hypothesis to an experiment. When put in context, it’s x students in a class of 30 who struggle with hypothesis writing. So, even after going over how to write a scientific hypothesis, students still struggle with identifying them. Is this because there is still confusion regarding what a hypothesis is? Or, is it because students don’t know how to apply their knowledge in a different context? In other words, what we need is for students to understand what a hypothesis is and to apply it to different contexts. But, how do we do this in a meaningful and simple way?

 

First, we need to look at the structure or a hypothesis and boil it down to its component parts, A scientific hypothesis simply consists of 2 parts. Therefore, if we use a 2-step template to help students write a scientific hypothesis, students may find this more helpful. We go through our 2-step hypothesis and applicable examples below. Handouts are available at the end of the post.

 

What is a scientific hypothesis?

Basically, a scientific hypothesis is a testable explanation for a scientific phenomena or question. Let’s break that down.

 

First, a scientific hypothesis is a scientific explanation. A statement that makes clear the causes or reasons for a scientific phenomena or question. For example, we could ask, “how do musicians sell more records?”  And, our hypothesis could be “Record sales depend on the amount of impressions or views the record receives online.” So, is this a good scientific hypothesis? It’s close, but it’s still incomplete.

 

Besides being an explanation, a scientific hypothesis must also be testable. In other words, scientists can observe or measure changes when they adjust or manipulate parts of the hypothesis in an experiment. The testable part of a scientific hypothesis typically comes in the form of an “if, then” statement. For example, to make the above hypothesis about musical record sales more complete, we can add the following: “If the number of Youtube views for a record increases, then the number of sales for the record will increase.”

 

The 2-step approach to hypothesis writing

Perhaps a straightforward way to teach hypothesis writing is to take a 2-step approach and to make a hypothesis at least 2 sentences long.

 

Note: there is no accepted length requirement to a hypothesis, although many students may get the wrong impression that a hypothesis is supposed to be 1 sentence in length.

 

Also note: before students begin to write a hypothesis, they must start with a question, which either they receive or come up with. If a phenomenon or experimental evidence is given instead, then this can be turned into a question by asking “why does that happen? Or “how does <the phenomenon> work?”. With question in hand, students can start the 2-step hypothesis writing process.

 

How to do a 2-step hypothesis

 

STEP 1: Come up with a specific reason or reasons that explain the phenomena or question. Consider using the following template to start your hypothesis:

 

The <phenomenon, topic> (is due to, is caused by, depends on) <specific reason>

 

Make sure students provide specific details. For example, saying “Record sales depend on an artist’s popularity” isn’t specific enough.

To make a stronger statement, define what type of popularity. For example, “Record sales depend on an artist’s popularity – specifically, the number of online followers the artist has before the release of the album”. This is a much stronger statement as it defines what type of popularity (ie. Online, social media) and when (ie. Before the release of an album).

 

 

STEP 2: Write a testable statement. In other words, provide a way in which the hypothesis can be tested.. Consider using an “If, then” statement and structure the statement like this:

 

“If <independent/manipulated> variable <increases/decreases>, then <dependent/respondent> variable <increases/decreases>”

 

Remember, a independent or manipulated variable is something a scientist or researcher has the power to directly change. The dependent or respondent variable is the something that responds to the changes of the independent variable. In the case for our hypothesis above, online followers is the independent variable and record sales is the dependent variable.

Therefore, we can write the testable statement “If the number of online followers an artist has increases, then the artist’s record sales increases.” This is a fairly straightforward statement that is easily testable. That is, track an artist’s online followers and see if it correlates with an increase in record sales.

 

Aside: There is no one “right” hypothesis

Lastly, there can be many hypotheses that explain the same phenomena. Students do not need to feel as though they need to get the “right one”. For example, for our question, “How do musicians sell more records?”, there can be multiple hypotheses – all of which can be credible:

 

“Record sales depend on the amount of radio play the record receives. If the radio play for a record increases, then the number of sales for that record increases.”

“Record sales depend an artist’s activity on social media platforms. If the number of Facebook Live, SnapChat, and Reddit AMA events hosted by the artist increases, then the artist’s record sales increase.”

“Record sales depend on early reviews by ‘influencers’. If number of early reviews by influencers increases, then the artist’s record sales increase.”

 

Wrap Up

Part of teaching science is teaching scientific literacy. Experimental design, identifying variables, hypothesis writing – are all part of that scientific literacy. To help students grasp science literacy quicker, it’s important to provide templates and standard customs, both of which teachers may already know bit take for granted. Click the link below to download our handouts. Thanks for your interest! Also, if you find this resource helpful, please share this with your colleagues.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL!

 

Resources

Handout(s): 35 – 2 Step Hypothesis Writing

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#34 – Identify Independent and Dependent Variables Using these 3 Tips (note: they’re things science teachers take for granted)

As science teachers, we probably  do an awesome job teaching the concept of independent vs. dependent variables to students. But, how many students can actually identify those variables in a lab? Or when given some experimental data? From the results of REAL Science Challenge Volume 2 Contest 3, approximately 50% of participants struggle to identify independent and dependent variables from experimental data. So, how can we help students apply what they know with regards to independent and dependent variables? How can students identify independent and dependent variables in situations other than those we give them?

In this resource, we discuss the language and conventions we use in presenting science experiments and results. As science teachers, we don’t notice these conventions because we’re so used to them. They’re like little tips science teachers have grown accustomed to. But, these conventions help us to decipher important information like independent and dependent variables. And, by teaching students these same conventions, they’ll be being able to extract the same information regardless of what data is given. We have a cheat sheet available for download at the end of this post.

 

What are Independent and Dependent variables?

An independent variable is the condition or factor a scientist changes during the experiment.

A dependent variable is the condition or factor a scientist measures in order to study the effects of the changes made to the independent variable.

Both independent and dependent variables are conditions the scientist measures and conditions in an experiment that change. But, independent variables are usually set or altered by the researcher to test an idea while dependent variables are measured during or after the experiment. In other words, a researcher can control or preset independent variables, while a researcher cannot preset a dependent variable.

Thus, one way to identify independent and dependent variables is to refer to the experimental procedure. Ask, what is the researcher changing between trials or is planning to alter during their research? This is the independent variable. Also, ask, what change is the researcher trying to measure to determine the effectiveness of their experiment? This is the dependent variable.

 

How else to identify independent and dependent variables

 

In the title

A common structure to the title of a science experiment goes like this: “The effect of x on y”.

For example, “The effect of climate change on the migratory patterns of ducks”.

More specifically, the common structure of the title is one that goes like this: “The effect of <independent variable> on <dependent variable>.”

Therefore, in our title example above, the independent variable in the experiment is climate change (and likely aspects of climate change like temperature). And, the dependent variable for the same experiment is migratory patterns of ducks.

 

In the graph

The structure of a graph – be it a bar graph or linear graph – will have one variable plot along the x-axis and another on the y-axis.

For example, the following graph is a climatograph for a specific biome.

The value plot along the x-axis – months of the year – is the independent variable. The value – or, in this case, values – plot on the y-axis are the dependent variables. There are 2 for this graph: temperature and precipitation.

 

In the hypothesis

The structure of the typical testable, predictive hypothesis is an “If…then…” statement.

For example, “If the temperature of the liquid increases, then the time it takes salt to dissolve decreases.”

More specifically, the structure of the typical, testable hypothesis is a statement that goes like this: “If <independent variable> increases/decreases, then <dependent variable> increases/decreases.”

Therefore, in our hypothesis example above, the independent variable for the experiment is temperature of the liquid and the dependent variable is the time it takes salt to dissolve.

 

 

Wrap Up

Our job as science teachers is to teach science literacy. We teach not just the content but the language of how that content is presented. By teaching the structure of that language, the conventions that scientists use, we make science easier (and, hopefully, quicker) for students to grasp. The conventions we wrote about in this resource represent just a few. There are many more we can present to our students. Click on the link below to download our handouts to this post.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 34 – 3 Tips to Identify IV and DV

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#33 – Weekend Eggs cook quicker (and other fun advertising claims for CER practice)

How do we teach CER (Claim Evidence Reasoning) in a fun, engaging way? Whether you’re introducing CER (Claim Evidence Reasoning) for the first time to your students or looking for ways to reinforce it, it’s easier to do if we use real life examples. And, on top of being fun and interesting, it would be great if the examples were quick to do too. But, what’s a good place to find fun, real life examples we can use quickly? What are some fun ways students can get CER practice or an introduction to it?

 

One source for fun examples to use for CER is in the advertising world. Specifically, we can use advertising claims with students to practice CER. And, to make things more fun, we can use phony ad claims because it’s a fun challenge for students to provide evidence and reasoning for something that may be too good to be true.

 

In this post, I present some real, phony advertising claims I like to use for CER practice  For each claim, I ask students to brainstorm scientific evidence and reasoning that may help support those outrageous claims. At the end of this post, I provide a quick handout that provides CER sample responses for our first example, Weekday Eggs.

 

 

The Canadian egg farmers & Weekday Eggs

The Canadian Egg Farmers put out an ad promoting a new kind of egg known as the weekend egg. The weekend egg – as opposed to normal eggs – cook quicker and, therefore, eggs no longer need to be a weekend treat. Refer to the following video clip:

 

 

This claim is actually purposefully bogus – the ad agency who produced the ad wanted to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to advertising eggs. But, it did make me pause and think if there was such a thing as “weekend eggs”. And although there really isn’t a thing as “weekend eggs”, it would be a fun activity for students to use CER to analyze those claims.

 

 

CER Practice with the Weekend Eggs Ad Campaign

1. (optional) Show the weekend eggs video clip

 

2. Put up the claim on the overhead projector (or infocus projector)

Claim: New “weekday eggs” are easier and quicker to cook.

 

3. Ask students to provide evidence to support the claim. If they can’t think of any evidence, ask what experiments could be done to support the claim?

Example: Weekday eggs have a unique shape giving them a greater surface area

 

4. Ask students to provide reasoning to connect the evidence to the claim.

Example: Eggs with greater surface area have more contact with heat sources, thereby allowing more heat to transfer resulting in a quicker cook time.

 

 

Other Phony Ad Claims for CER Practice

The following ad campaigns are real campaigns. And, they are all bogus. However, similar to “weekend eggs”, these campaigns make for good CER practice.

 

1. Nivea (My Silhouette Cream) firming cream

Claim: Cream will slim and reshape the body and reduce specific parts of the body like the thighs, hips, waist, and belly.

 

2. Reebok toning shoes

Claim: Toning shoes can strengthen muscles in the legs, thighs, and buttocks

 

3. Nutella

Claim: Nutella is a healthy food

 

4. Listerine

Claim: Listerine will help prevent colds or sore throats or lessen their severity

 

5. Cold-FX

Claim: Cold-FX stops colds or flu it its tracks.

 

6. Yogurt maker Dannon

Claim: Probiotic bacteria in Dannon yogurt can aid regularity and prevent colds or flus.

 

Implementation Tips

  1. Put up a copy of the company’s original ad
  2. Put up a headline of the company’s claim
  3. Ask students to provide evidence to support the claim.
  4. Ask students to provide reasoning that connects the evidence to the claim.

Source: “8 Advertising Claims too good to be true” (cbc.ca)

 

 

Wrap Up

CER practice or an introduction to CER doesn’t have to be boring – full of hypothetical or boring science experiments. CER practice can be fun and relevant. In resource #12, students find ways to support the claim that red jellybeans are the best ones (and other interesting claims). In this resource, students have fun doing the same – but by finding ways to support bogus ad campaigns. If you want to download our handouts to this resource, click the link below. And, if you found the resource helpful, share it with others and leave a comment below. Thanks!

 

Until next time, keep it REAL.

 

Resources

Handout(s): 33 – Weekend Eggs Discussion Notes

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#32 – Why there’s always room for Jello in an inquiry project?

Are you looking for a demo or an inquiry project about enzymes? If so, consider Jello. Yes, what I’m proposing is a Jello inquiry project. First of all, Jello makes for a fun and cheap activity. And, the materials are easily accessible too. Furthermore, kids can relate to Jello. I mean, who hasn’t had a bowl of Jello or some Jello mixed in with some fruit cocktail when they were young? It’s part of our culture. And, even within the science classroom, there’s always room for Jello.

 

Jello mystery = Interesting Inquiry Project

Ever notice how there isn’t kiwi Jello? There’s Jello that comes in strawberry, orange, and lime, but why not kiwi?

Years ago, I thought I’d get into the hipster food craze by producing funky combinations of naturally made Jello with real chunks of fruit. I bought some gelatin, dissolved it in water and added some kiwi and placed it in the fridge.

Unfortunately, the Jello didn’t set – it was still in liquid form after being in the fridge overnight. So, I added another pack of gelatin (with the thinking that increasing concentration of gelatin would obviously result in the reaction I want). And, it also did not set. Why wasn’t the gelatin setting? This was the classic science discrepant event, and one that inspired me to create a jello inquiry project.

Below, we quickly discuss the reasons why jello won’t set in kiwi and provide a quick intro and some inquiry suggestions for your own Jello inquiry project. A quick guide / cheat sheet is available at the end for download.

 

Why won’t kiwi Jello set?

So why doesn’t Jello (or, to be more precise, gelatin) set in the presence of kiwi? Turns out, it’s because of the presence of naturally occurring digestive enzymes in kiwi.

Enzymes, of course, are biological catalysts that speed up the rate of a reaction without be used up itself. For digestive enzymes, these enzymes can break down one protein and then move onto another and another without being used up. The digestive enzymes in kiwi break down the proteins in gelatin, thereby preventing gelatin from setting. Thus, jello cannot set in the presence of kiwi because the enzymes digest all the gelatin. The same thing happens to jello in the presence of pineapple too.

 

To get Jello to set in kiwi, we must stop the work of the digestive enzymes in the kiwi. We do this by destroying or altering the digestive enzymes in the kiwi. For example, one way to do this is to force bonds that hold the enzyme together apart (by adding heat). Or, we can disrupt the electrostatic attractive forces within the enzyme (for example, by changing the pH). By destroying the digestive enzymes in kiwi before adding the Jello, we make sure there is gelatin present for the Jello to set.

Our Jello inquiry project does not just ask how to stop the activity of digestive enzymes. Instead, we also want to determine what minimum treatment is necessary for edible, kiwi Jello to set. Potentially, there may be many things that can disrupt digestive enzymes (ex. Adding heavy metal ions), but the treatment may not result in an edible product.

 

Part 1: A Quick Jello Intro

To start the project, we must illustrate the problem. The following outlines a demo that can be done to show students how gelatin will not set in the presence of kiwi.

 

Materials

2 – 250mL beakers
1 – package of Knox gelatin
1 – Kiwi
2 – marbles

 

  1. Dissolve Knox gelatin according to the instructions into the 250mL beaker.
  2. Pour half of the dissolved gelatin into the other 250mL beaker. Add additional water to each beaker to make up to 200mL of water.
  3. Add 10 small pieces of sliced kiwi to one beaker. Leave the other beaker untouched.
  4. Place beakers in the fridge and leave overnight.
  5. Take both beakers out the next day. Place one marble in the beaker containing kiwi-gelatin and the other in the beaker containing only gelatin. What do you notice?

 

Note: the marble should sink in the first beaker because the gelatin has not set. However, the gelatin in the second beaker has set and the marble remains on the surface.

 

 

Part 2: Adding in a dash of Inquiry

Consider the factors that can be changed in order for to destroy or disable the digestive enzymes in the kiwi. Your students can choose one or two to study and determine the minimum treatment necessary to set jello with kiwi in it.

 

Changing temperature

What if kiwi were heated at higher temperatures before being added to gelatin?  Students can heat kiwi at 70, 80, 90, and 100 degrees Celsius for a set amount of time and determine what minimum temperature will allow gelatin to set.

 

Changing heating time

What if kiwi were heated at lower temperatures but for longer periods of time? Perhaps, students can experiment with heating kiwi at 80 degrees for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and half an hour and note any changes.

 

Changing pH

What if kiwi was soaked in acidic or basic solution before being added to gelatin? One thing that can be done is soaking the kiwi in increasing concentrations of lemon juice to make it more acidic. Alternatively, kiwi can also be soaked in increasing concentrations of baking soda solution to make it more basic.

 

Dissolving salts or sugars

What if dissolved salts or sugars disrupted the covalent bonds in proteins? Students can test this idea by soaking kiwi in saturated salt or sugar solution and solutions of 40%, 60%, and 80% saturation before adding to gelatin.

 

Adding different alcohols

What if polar covalent liquids are strong enough to disrupt kiwi’s digestive enzymes? Students can test this hypothesis be soaking kiwi in alcohol of growing alcoholic concentrations (ie. from 5% to 40% alcohol) before adding to gelatin.

 

 

Wrap Up

An inquiry project doesn’t need to have an elaborate set up or even a super complicated procedure. Some of the best inquiry projects come as a result of noticing a different result to an everyday occurrence. Which is why the discrepancy with regards to jello and kiwi makes for such an interesting yet simple inquiry project. Jello is common enough for most anyone to access. Yet, the solution to our inquiry project can be approached from so many different angles. To download the handouts to this post, click on the link below. And, please share this post through social media if you enjoyed it or found it useful. Thanks!

 

Until next time, keep it REAL!

 

Resources

Handout(s): 32 – Jello Inquiry Project

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#31 – How we use mud pies for a simple inquiry project (hint: it’s shocking)

We like science inquiry projects that are more hands-on. The ones where students need to build a physical prototype, test it, and refine it. Sure, there are those who like science inquiry projects resulting in a poster or PowerPoint presentation. But, I prefer the physical. And, in an age where students spend a bulk of their time on the computer anyways, I think students appreciate the physical too. The problem is, what prototyping projects lend itself to being a good science inquiry project? Yes students can always build popsicle stick bridges. But, with time constraints, it’s hard to spend time building bridges if they don’t fit in the curriculum. In a previous post (#29), we provide a science inquiry project where students build solar ovens in order to study the behaviour of light, which ties to the parts of the curriculum focusing on light. That’s the type of science inquiry project I enjoy having students do. Projects where students build, test, and apply their prior knowledge to a goal that gets kids out of their desks is what I like. But, again, finding a simple inquiry project that hits all the criteria I set forth is challenging.

 

So, when I learned how bacteria in mud can be used to create a mud battery, I got real excited. We tested it out and, yes, it’s true. The bacteria in mud can produce a low voltage under the right conditions. And, such a project connects well with multiple parts of the science curriculum too. For example, this project can connects with the electric circuits and voltages curricula as well as the abiotic/biotic conditions necessary for life. And, with a variety of ways to make a mud battery – especially one that produces the most voltage – this project makes for a simple inquiry project that connects well with content and competencies. In this post, we outline how we set up a demo version of a mud battery. We also provide some useful links as well as a handout that is available for download at the end of the post.

 

 

Just how simple is our simple inquiry project?

The battery is relatively easy to make and the parts easy to source. All that’s needed is a couple of insulated wires, a container (glass or plastic), some mud, sugar, water, and two squares of felt. You do not need electrodes or wiring of different metals.

 

We followed the video instructions on setting up a mudwatt kit the first time we set up our battery (see below).

 

Note: The main difference between mudwatt and our homemade mud battery is that we don’t attach our wires to a circuit or LED. Rather, we measure the voltage produced by connecting the wires to a multimeter. However, if you want all the bells-and-whistles that come with an actual mudwatt, you can buy them by clicking here.

 

After setting up the battery, wait a day before testing for voltage. Our battery produced 0.60V of electricity a day after our initial setup.

 

 

The Potential (literally)

The purpose of this lab is not just to build a battery but to make it better. And, by better, we mean a battery that can produce the most voltage. That is the inquiry question students tackle in this project.

 

And, there are a number of variables students can modify to achieve this. Students can change the wiring, the amount of mud, the type of mud (ie. Where they go their mud from), the shape and/or size of the container, the nutrient (ex. Sugar) initially being added to the mud, the battery temperature, and the the time between setup and trials. Thus, there are many ways students can approach the goal of making a mud battery that produces the greatest voltage – some of which may not be on the list above yet.

 

 

Wrap Up

There are simple inquiry projects and inquiry projects that are just simple. I’m not a big fan of those inquiry projects that have a simple output like having students write a report or produce a PowerPoint presentation. I like simple inquiry projects: those that are easy to set up and require students to build, test, and modify variables in order to get a better result. That’s what we have in the mud battery inquiry project. It’s hands-on, unorthodox, highly demonstrable, and, at the same time, connects well with today’s science curricular standards. And, the materials and setup are simple. I hope you give it a try with your students and let me know how it goes. To download our mud battery inquiry project handouts, click the link below.

 

Until next time, keep it REAL!

 

Resources

Handout(s): 31 – Mud Battery Inquiry Project

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